Cisco Discontinues Umi Home Telepresence Hardware

Back in October of 2010, networking vendor Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) announced a new home telepresence device called the Umi.
The Umi was intended to be Cisco entry into a new market, the home telepresence business. With Umi telepresence, the original goal was to bring high-quality video conference to the home. It's a goal that now is not going to be pursued by Cisco any further.
As part of a strategy announced in April of 2011, Cisco realigned their consumer business units. That realignment saw the Umi become part of the Cisco business telepresence portfolio. Another part of the realignment included closing the Flip digital camera business unit, which Cisco had paid $590 million to acquire in 2009. Now the Umi is set for the same fate.
"Following the integration we elected to review our Cisco Umi distribution strategy, and consequently decided to no longer sell Cisco Umi hardware as a consumer offering," Cisco spokesperson David McCulloch told